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“I’ll wait right here.”
Which they’d negotiated on the sidewalk outside Stag before she got in the car.
Someone approached the other side of the door, she heard it, then silence. Peephole maybe? Good instincts. Wait, did that mean she thought of herself as an enemy, a danger?
The door opened until a security chain stopped it.
“Sersha?”
The slightly accented voice came before a woman peeked into the gap.
Her first emotion? Guilt.
“Lupe?” she asked for verification, yet recognized the woman’s features. “I’m sorry to bother you.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“And yours. Can I come in and talk to you for a minute?”
Lupe’s eyes went from left to right. “Are you alone?”
“I have a security guy with me, but he’ll wait out here.”
Lupe hesitated. “Okay,” she said after a breath. The door closed to reopen and the short woman stepped back. “Come in.”
Wall to wall carpet. Vintage furniture, fresh flowers. When she got a better look at Lupe, she set the woman’s age around her forties. Huh, younger than she thought. Had Lupe imagined a future with Henry? Wasn’t impossible. If she and Conn could do it, anyone could.
God, she felt awful. Sick at the thought of losing the man she loved.
“Thank you,” she said, sitting when Lupe gestured. “I don’t mean to intrude on you. I know you haven’t been back to the house since…”
“Why would I go back? Henry, Alderman McLeod, he doesn’t need a housekeeper anymore.”
“You were more than just his housekeeper. You ran that house for him. Kept things together. You meant everything to him.”
With a slight, quick shake of her head, Lupe’s eyes widened. “No, my job was, I—Henry was always professional.”
“That’s a shame. I would’ve liked him to have someone special.”
“He was a special man.”
“My brother says you’re a special woman.” She smiled as Lupe’s interest became acute. “I know all about falling for a forbidden man. For trying to resist the inevitable.”
Lupe exhaled. “I was surprised, your relationship… was unexpected.”
“To everyone. Conn and I included.”
“How did it feel…? The world finding out?”
Telling the truth, that it had liberated her from so many chains, seemed cruel given that Lupe would never have that chance with her love.
“It’s been bumpy.”
“Your father, Ronald, how has he reacted?”
That question required an eye roll. “Not well.”
“Did you expect him to take it well?”
